The City of Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission has awarded a grant to support the Northern California Bluegrass Society’s 2010 Bluegrass On Broadway Festival. The grant is an important part of the funding that makes the 4-day event free to the public.

The 3rd Annual BOB festival will include bluegrass concerts, evening dining programs, the Northern California Bluegrass Awards, a film festival, jams, appearances by bluegrass authors, workshops, programs for children and seniors, and other events to be added.

Bluegrass On Broadway is held at various venues within easy walking distance of each other in charming historic downtown Redwood City.  More details will be announced soon on this website.

The International Bluegrass Music Association board of directors voting results are in, with two former Bay Area residents winning re-election.

Former Palo Alto resident and NCBS/SCBS member Alison Brown, an executive with Compass Records and an award-winning artist now of Nashville, Tennessee was re-elected to represent members involved in recording, distribution and marketing.

Neil Rosenberg, a Berkeley High alum and member of the first Bay Area bluegrass band, the Redwood Canyon Ramblers, now an author and historian from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, was re-elected by all professional members to an at-large post.

Also elected or re-elected:  Mike Bub (artists, composers and music publishers),  Craig Ferguson (event producers), and Jim Roe (agents, managers and publicists).

NCBS is a member organization of IBMA.

The 16th annual Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival will be held Friday-Sunday, August 7-9, 2009 at Bolado Park, on Highway 25, 7 miles south of Hollister. The festival is a benefit for the Northern California  Bluegrass Society and is the closest 3-day weekend camping festival to most bluegrass fans in the SF Bay Area and the Monterey Bay Area.

This year, a new stage — “The First Stage” — will open the proceedings two hours earlier than in past years, at 1:00pm on Friday. The Main Stage will begin, as usual, at 3:00pm that day.

The GOF is small, fun, relaxed and easy. Jamming rules the evenings and much of each day. The First and Main stage performers  are booked in advance, but the popular ‘Tweener stage alternates with the main stage, offering other musicians at the festival an opportunity to play approximately three songs before the full audience.

The event has some nice amenities: shade over the audience area, a low-power FM broadcast of the stage to the camp, food and craft vendors, information about other festivals and bluegrass organizations, children’s activities, shady camping for tenters, plenty of close-in parking for RVs, plenty of RV hook-ups, lots of flushy restrooms, showers, workshops, a Kids On Stage program, and sweeping views of hillside vineyards, pastures, and craggy peaks.

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Friday, August 7th

3:00 Mountain Drive
4:00 Page Brownton & Sidetrack
5:00 Dalton Mountain Gang
6:00 Faux Renwah
7:00 49 Special
8:00 Bean Creek
9:00 Alhambra Valley Band

Saturday, August 8th

10:00 OMGG
11:00 Wronglers
12:00 Common Cents
1:00 Workshop/Lunch Break
2:00 Jimmy Chickenpants
3:00 Smiley Mountain Band
4:00 Stoney Mountain Ramblers
5:00 Workshop/Dinner Break
6:00 Barefoot Nellies
7:00 Dark Hollow
8:00 Circle R Boys
9:00 Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys

Sunday, August 9th

9:00 Old Soles
10:00 Wintons (Gospel Hour)
11:00 Harmon’s Peak
12:00 Kitchen Help
12:45 Lunch Break
1:15 Kids on Stage
2:15 Houston Jones
3:15 Nell Robinson & Red Level
4:15 Earthquake Country
5:00 Special Guest Yodeling Lady Lolita

The July issue of Bluegrass By The Bay is now available for download in the Members Area. If you’re not an NCBS member, join us to get the newsletter each month, either online or by mail!

Feedback on the BBB is always welcome. You can contact the editors by (email) bluegrassbythebay (at) gmail (dot) com or using the online contact form.

Northern California is a bluegrass hotspot. One reason is that a number of hard-working non-profit organizations serve our local bluegrass community. Here are short descriptions of each of these groups:

Bluegrass Organizations:

California Bluegrass Association — statewide bluegrass organization that is the largest bluegrass club in the world. Produces many bluegrass events throughout the northern two-thirds of the state.

Northern California Bluegrass Society – serves the San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey Bay Area, and all of Northern California. Produces many bluegrass events throughout its service territory. Also called the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society.

Redwood Bluegrass Associates — produces a monthly bluegrass concert series in Mountain View.

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The new Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival ”First Stage” is a theme stage that will begin the festival two hours earlier than before. In 2009, the theme will be “Women Performers.” Our stage hosts, the band Chickwagon from San Francisco, will open the show. Also playing (so far): Regina Bartlett, Pam Brandon, Jessica Evans, Diana Greenberg, Jennifer Kitchen, The Pixie Chicks, Jeanie Poling, Nell Robinson, Manton Elementary School Bluegrass Band members Madison and Mariah Skillman, and The Velotones, with many more to be added on the two-hour bill. Chuck Poling will emcee. Music on the First Stage will begin at 1:00pm on Friday afternoon August 7.

Applications for the remaining slots will be accepted until July 9, 2009. Send an e-mail to  (Barbara Corff ) chickwagon (at) gmail (dot) comof Chickwagon to apply.

OMG!!!  These kids are moving on up at the  Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival. Last year, the band OMGG — Obviously Minor Guys And A Girl – knocked ‘em dead on the “Tweener Stage (we have the YouTube version right here). This year, at the August 7-9 GOF, NCBS is thrilled to have  A.J. Lee, Nate and Max Schwartz, and Marty Varner doing a full set on the Main Stage.